Akhtala monastery description and photos - Armenia (Topic)

Akhtala monastery description and photos - Armenia. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. The name in English is Akhtala monastery.

Photo and description

Akhtala Monastery is located near the city of the same name on a high mountain ledge.

Akhtala was founded in the X century. as one of the defensive structures. Until about the XIV Art. was called Pkhinza-khank, which translated means "copper mine". In the XI Art. the citadel of Akhtala was an important strategic point of the Kyurikid kingdom. The inscription on the khachkar says about the construction of the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos in 1188 by the daughter of the ruler of Tashir-Dzoraget Kyurike Mariam.

In the XIII century. the owners of Akhtala became the Zakaryans. After some time, it became the largest Chalcedonian monastery, as well as the cultural center of Northern Armenia. In the XIV Art. the name "Pkhinza-khank" disappeared from historical sources. Around the 30s. XIV Art. the monastery became part of the Akhtala Metropolitanate of the Mtskheta Catholicosat. In the first half of the XV century. for the first time in written sources a village called Akhtala is mentioned, which is the property of the Georgian Catholicos.

At the beginning of the XVIII century. Akhtala monastery fell into complete desolation. In 1801, the Russian Emperor Alexander I issued a decree to transform the monastery into the center of the Greek Orthodox Church in the Transcaucasus. Today it is the most important place of pilgrimage for the Greeks. Every year on September 21, they come to Akhtala to celebrate the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin.

The main temple is Surb Astvatsatsin, built in the XIII century. Each side of the temple is decorated with traditional Georgian ornaments. The walls of the Church of the Holy Mother of God are covered with magnificent, perfectly preserved paintings, and only the face of the Mother of God was knocked out by the hordes of Tamerlane. In the conch, one can see the Mother of God with the Child sitting on a throne, a little lower - a belt with the Eucharist and two rows of figures of saints. Scenes from the life of Christ and the Mother of God, saints and martyrs are depicted on the eastern, southern and northern walls of the transept, the Last Judgment on the western wall, and the stories of the prophet Elijah and John the Baptist are presented in the room in the southwestern part of the temple.

In addition to the main church, the monastery houses a small church of St. Basil and the ruins of a two-story residential building.

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Topic: Akhtala monastery description and photos - Armenia.